article · Plants
Drought stress substantially limits pea plant growth, flowering, and crop yields. A two-season study evaluated the use of Bacillus thuringiensis, silicon, and carrot extract as seed priming treatments, tested individually and in combination, to improve the performance of drought-stressed pea plants. Drought conditions significantly reduced plant height, leaf area, pod length, and seed weights. However, seed priming alleviated these negative effects across morphological, physiological, and yield measures. The combination of Bacillus thuringiensis and carrot extract produced the greatest benefits, driving notable increases in leaf number, flower count, pod dimensions, and dry seed weight. This dual treatment also enhanced relative water content, elevated chlorophyll levels, regulated antioxidant enzymes, and lowered reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation in the water-stressed plants.
Water scarcity poses an increasing threat to food production and agricultural stability. Demonstrating that organic and biological seed treatments can protect pea crops from drought offers a practical path to safeguarding legume harvests. These treatments support plant water retention and natural stress defences, potentially reducing dependence on freshwater irrigation and helping farming systems adapt to unpredictable climate patterns.
The findings could inform the development of biological seed-priming formulations for commercial pea producers and input suppliers targeting drought-prone regions. The research demonstrates applied and tested efficacy across two seasons, indicating a viable concept for agricultural biostimulants. Moving toward commercialisation would require developing shelf-stable delivery formulations, testing across diverse soil types, and completing standard agricultural regulatory approvals.
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In the present investigation, we study the effect of <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> MH161336 (10<sup>6-8</sup> CFU/cm<sup>3</sup>), silicon (25 mL L<sup>-1</sup>), and carrot extract (75 mL L<sup>-1</sup>) as seed primers, individually or in combination, on morphological, physio-biochemical and yield components of drought-stressed pea plants (Master B) during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons. Our results indicated that drought causes a remarkable reduction in plant height, leaf area, number of leaves per plant, and number of flowers per plant in stressed pea plants during two seasons. Likewise, number of pods, pod length, seeds weight of 10 dried plants, and dry weight of 100 seeds were decreased significantly in drought-stressed pea plants. Nevertheless, seed priming with the individual treatments or in combination boosted the morphological, physio-biochemical, and yield characters of pea plants. The best results were obtained with the <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> + carrot extract treatment, which led to a remarkable increase in the number of leaves per plant, leaf area, plant height, and number of flowers per plant in stressed pea plants in both seasons. Moreover, pod length, number of seeds per pod, seeds weight of 10 dried plants, and dry weight of 100 seeds were significantly increased as well. <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> + carrot extract treatment led to improved biochemical and physiological characters, such as relative water content, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, regulated the up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes, increased seed yield, and decreased lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species, mainly superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, in drought-stressed pea plants.
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DOI: 10.3390/plants10102201
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